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Barack Obama says he wants to hear Republicans' ideas, yet he seems awfully quick to dismiss them whenever they are presented, especially one at a time in a "summit" format. It's like watching Bruce Lee fend off a single-file legion of karate hacks: nifty, but proof of nothing. Accordingly, it's time for the President to step up to the podium and stay there a while with the best idea man the loyal opposition has to offer: Newt Gingrich.

Anyone who saw Gingrich's televised parries with Al Gore, John Kerry and Howard Dean over the past three years understands how good he can be in a substantive debate. He has spent over 30 years in elected office, the halls of academe, and all kinds of media forums, testing the philosophical and evidentiary case against the Democratic agenda and on behalf of his own. He is not afraid to go beyond slogans to argue the Republican cause, and to do so in a constructive -- and instructive -- manner. He knows public policy better than Barack Obama, and has memorized the Democratic playbook as well as Nancy Pelosi,. He cares about issues and opposing views, and can as easily cite an article from Mother Jones as from the Wall Street Journal. He is a master of compelling analogies. And he is fearless. No Republican currently in office could debate Barack Obama with the respectful sophistication and plain-language appeal of the former House Speaker.

The country desperately needs to hear this debate, which would rival Ali versus Frazier in firepower and Disraeli versus Gladstone in high content. It would do more than anything else to civilize the great American political divide, not by compromise, but by showing Americans how valuable respectful disagreement can be. And since it would not be a campaign event, the two principals could be more earnest and cordial, more eager to enlighten their listeners than to incite them. In fact, it could set a desperately needed standard for our broader political discourse -- in Congress and among the public. Bring it on.

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